Insight Partners Launches Forward Deployed Practice, Anchored by the Industry's First FDE Advisory Council

New practice helps portfolio companies move from delivering software to delivering outcomes by building the talent, operating model, and foundational capabilities 

NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Insight Partners has launched its Forward Deployed Practice, a dedicated advisory program that helps portfolio companies evaluate whether a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) motion is right for them and, for those that are ready, build the strategy to execute it. Anchoring the practice is the FDE Advisory Council, the industry's first council dedicated to Forward Deployed Engineering, whose founding members include senior leaders from Databricks, ServiceNow, Microsoft, SAP, and Salesforce.

The Forward Deployed Practice sits inside Insight Onsite, Insight's in-house team of 100+ operational experts backed by a network of peers, partners, and buyers, and is supported by Insight's Office of AI. It is led by Santosh Iyer, Executive Vice President, and Samma Hafeez, Senior Vice President, and draws on more than 18 months of primary research across 200+ companies and leaders.

Jeff Horing, Insight's Co-Founder and Managing Director, frames the shift: "AI is reaching the parts of work that software could only observe from the outside. Forward Deployed teams are the ones doing that discovery work today, and every gap they close creates a larger market for the company that closes it."

The AI value gap is one of the largest dilemmas facing the enterprise today. Across the C-suite, companies are trying to capture the gains AI promises without sacrificing productivity, customer satisfaction, or competitive advantage. The gap the practice addresses is well documented: 88 percent of AI proofs of concept never make it to widescale deployment, according to IDC.

Over the past year, Insight has worked closely with its portfolio companies to build the guidance and tactical expertise to evaluate whether a forward deployed engineering motion is right for them and, where it is, to execute one. That urgency shows up in the hiring data: Across Insight Partners' portfolio, more than 100 open roles have Forward Deployed in the job title.

Closing the gap is a growth opportunity, and speed is essential.

"AI lets software companies sell against the labor budget, a market roughly ten times the IT spend they compete for today. That expansion belongs to whoever can deploy inside a customer's own data and workflows, which is exactly what forward deployed engineering does. As former operators, we built this practice, and this Council, so our portfolio captures that ground first," said Santosh Iyer, Executive Vice President, Insight Partners.

THE FORWARD DEPLOYED PRACTICE

The Forward Deployed Practice will evaluate all relevant areas of the company's business to determine how to best maximize outcomes with forward deployed strategies. The goal is to move companies toward an outcome-based mindset, built to adapt as the models and the market keep evolving. That evaluation spans technical readiness, data infrastructure, and organizational design — the practical variables that determine whether a forward deployed motion can actually ship. From there, the practice helps portfolio companies build the internal capabilities, hiring profile, and operating rhythm needed to sustain it well past the first deployment.

"AI moves too fast for any one team, including ours, to track alone. Most FDE motions are less than two years old, which means the playbook is still being written. Sitting across one of the largest enterprise application AI and software portfolios gives us signal on where forward deployed innovation is happening before any single company could see it in isolation," said Samma Hafeez, Senior Vice President, Insight Partners. "The Forward Deployed Practice works alongside the Council to sharpen and validate that signal, keeping us informed and grounded."

Insight published its first guide on forward deployed engineering in June 2026, and a three-part Onsite Hour virtual series in July reached hundreds of portfolio companies across the firm. Early, growth and late-stage portfolio companies have all engaged directly with the practice through expert sessions and workshops.

THE FDE ADVISORY COUNCIL

The FDE Advisory Council is Insight's first network-wide advisory council, a format built to bring perspectives from all sides of a market into a single room. Insight has convened senior technology communities for years, including the CIO Council, the Government Advisory Board, and the Enterprise Cyber and Data & AI communities. This is the first designed to seat practitioners, academics, and investors together and to route what they learn back into the firm's work with its portfolio.

According to Pablo Dominguez, Operating Partner at Insight Partners, "We're building a council that keeps us grounded in what's actually working, an advisory practice to help scale that capability across our entire portfolio, and a talent bench to carry it forward."

The council convened for the first time on September 9 and will meet quarterly over twelve months.

Founding members (in alphabetical order) are Ankit Sobti (Cofounder and Chief Technology Officer, Postman), Boaz Francis (Head of FDE, Wonderful), David Gallacher (Industry Fellow and Faculty Director, Berkeley), Diego Ballona (Vice President, Solutions, Fin), Edwina Fitzmaurice (Corporate Vice President, Industry Solutions Delivery, Microsoft), Javier Kielmanowicz (Head of Applied AI, Harvey), Jennifer Cramer (Senior Vice President, FDE, AI Products (Agentforce), Salesforce), Jove Zhong (Head of FDE, Cresta), Marcello Pedersen (Forward Deployed Engineering VP, Databricks), Miku Jha (Group Vice President, Applied AI and FDE, ServiceNow), Rajkumar Irudayaraj (Senior Vice President and General Manager, Google Business Unit, Alteryx), and Shardul Vikram (Chief Product Officer, SAP Application AI, SAP).

Members receive Insight's investor perspective on what is scaling and what is failing across enterprise AI deployments and opportunities to co-author editorial content and speak at Insight events. Each member will also meet regularly with Insight portfolio company executives and senior leaders for targeted advisory conversations.

Council members are convening in New York on October 5 and 6 for an in-person Council Meeting and to attend the firm's ScaleUp:AI conference.

ABOUT INSIGHT PARTNERS

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of December 31, 2025, the firm has over $90B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 900 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has a global presence with leadership in London, Tel Aviv, and the Bay Area. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with tailored, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on X @insightpartners.

SOURCE Insight Partners